Abstract
Until the First World War, the law of war was founded on the principles that military operations should be limited to the armed forces and that the civilian population was entitled to general immunity.
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Endnotes
Chapter II, ‘An impartial ICRC in revolutionary Hungary’.
See Annex 1: Statutes of the International Committee of Red Cross, version 1930, valid during the Second World War.
Moreillon, Le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge et la protection des détenu politiques, p. 93, procès-verbaux meeting of 23 June 1927, vol. 12, ICRC Archives.
Ibid., pp. 93–4.
Report of Edmond Boissier, 1 May 1935, Doc. 177, CR 110/Ià — ICRC Archives, mentioned by Moreillon, op. cit., p. 95.
Ibid.
ICRC Activities during Second World War,doc. cit., vol I, pp. 568–71.
Note GA, without heading, 9 May 1945, no file number — ICRC Archives.
Note from ICRC to delegation in Berlin, 24 Sept. 1942, Civilian detainees in German concentration camps, doc. cit., p. 41. Max Hartmann was head of External Relations Department, German Red Cross.
Ibid., pp. 42–3.
Ibid., p. 43, footnote.
Chapter IV, ‘The entrance of the WJC’, minutes of a conversation with Burckhardt and Ferrière, signed by Riegner, 17 Nov. 1942 -WJC Archives.
The author’s reference is inaccurate; No. 257 of the RICR appeared in January 1924. What is important is the spirit of Grossmann’s article rather than the accuracy of individual details
Grossmann, Congress Weekly,X (1943).
Letter Tartakower to Peter, 4 March 1943, G. 8/Pe (G. 59/7 — G. 59/2 — ICRC Archives.
On this subject, see Civilian detainees in German concentration camps, doc. cit., pp. 16–22.
Letter from Goldman, Chairman of WJC Administration Committee, to Board of Economic Warfare, 25 Feb. 1943, G. 3/47 (G. 59/7/65 — G. 59/2/65) — ICRC Archives.
Note 322 Duchosal to Peter, 5 May 1943, G. 59/7/65 (G. 8/47 — G. 59/2/65) — ICRC Archives.
Letter Tartakower and Kubowitzki to Peter, 10 Dec. 1943 — WJC Archives.
Ibid.
With regard to the role of the ICRC as defined in the Convention of 1929, I should like to comment on the legal aspects in greater detail: The Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war binds only the states which have ratified it and not, contrary to a commonly held opinion, the ICRC. Anyone reading this Convention may be surprised that the ICRC is only rarely mentioned, the protection of the prisoners of war being essentially the task of the protecting powers. The ICRC is mentioned in only three Articles: Article 77 calls on each belligerent power to set up an official information bureau relative to the prisoners of war on their territory, at the outbreak of hostilities. The work of the information bureaux includes transmitting urgently all information on the prisoners of war to the prisoners’ own countries or to the powers in whose service they have been. ‘The information bureaux shall transmit all such information [i.e. on the prisoners of war] immediately to the powers concerned, on the one hand through the inter-mediary of the protecting Powers, and on the other through the Central Agency contemplated in article 79.’ Article 79: ‘A Central Agency of information regarding prisoners of war shall be established in a neutral country. The International Red Cross Committee shall, if they consider it necessary, propose to the powers concerned the organization of such an agency.’ ‘This agency shall be charged with the duty of collecting all information regarding prisoners which they may be able to obtain through official or private channels, and the agency shall transmit the information as rapidly as possible to the prisoners’ own country or the power in whose service they have been. These provisions shall not be interpreted as restricting the humanitarian work of the International Red Cross Committee.’ The provisions for visits to camps are included in part VIII, section II of the Convention. They state that recognized delegates from the protecting powers are to make visits of inspection, and the belligerent powers are to facilitate their task. Article 87 contains provisions for dealing with disagreements on the application of the Convention: ’In the event of a dispute between the belligerents regarding the application of the provisions of the present Convention, the protecting Powers shall, as far as possible, lend their good offices with the object of settling the dispute. To this end, each of the protecting Powers may, for instance, propose to the belligerents concerned that a conference of representatives of the latter should be held, on suitable chosen neutral territory. The belligerents shall be required to give effect to proposals made to them with this object. The protecting Power may, if necessary, submit for the approval of the powers in dispute the name of a person belonging to a neutral power or nominated by the International Committee of the Red Cross, who shall be invited to take part in this Conference.’ Article 88 adds the following: ‘The foregoing provisions do not constitute any obstacle to the humanitarian work which the International Committee of the Red Cross may perform for the protection of prisoners of war with the consent of the belligerents concerned.’
Letter Peter to Tartakower, 17 Dec. 1943 — WJC Archives. (I did not find a copy of this letter in the ICRC Archives at my disposal.)
Ibid.
Letter Celler to Cordell Hull, re: ‘Red Cross must be given right to aid civilians as well as military prisoners’, 27 Dec. 1943 — WJC Archives.
I was unable to find a copy of this letter.
Report of a conversation between Kubowitzki and Peter, 5 Jan. 1944 — WJC Archives.
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Ben-Tov, A. (1988). The Legal Framework of ICRC Activities. In: Facing the Holocaust in Budapest. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-6935-8_4
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